


Right Hand Woman

by TheDarkStrategist



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 03:11:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17910899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkStrategist/pseuds/TheDarkStrategist
Summary: “You don’t have to always take care of me. You take care of others all the time. Please, Yang, let someone take care of you for a change.”Yang was speechless. She didn’t know what to say or how to feel. She was so used to being the protector, the caregiver, that the idea of letting someone else take care of her was absolutely foreign.“I...I don’t know how.”





	Right Hand Woman

There was a familiar sort of soreness nestled in Yang’s right shoulder, the pain of overexertion and shotgun kickback. She’d dealt with this in the earliest part of her recovery. When she had first started training with her prosthetic arm, it had wreaked havoc on her her right shoulder. Her body had been unused to having to compensate for the increased kickback that her prosthetic caused when she used its shotgun gauntlet.

After months of training, her body had acclimated to the change though she still dealt with soreness if she didn’t pace herself. Her doctor had recommended that if her pain persisted for over an hour that she remove her prosthetic and give her shoulder time to rest. Unfortunately, between the chaos at Haven, their jaunt through Anima’s unforgiving forests, and Blake and Yang’s confrontation with Adam, she hadn’t had time to take it off and give her shoulder time to recover.

She now regretted neglecting to care for her arm, because now her shoulder seemed to be screaming at her with red, hot pain. It had started out as a gentle soreness but had now morphed into an angry persistent throbbing.

Yang carefully removed her prosthetic, setting it on her bedside table. She eyed her scroll, wondering if she should call Qrow into her hotel room to ask for his advice about her arm but decided against it. He probably wouldn’t know what to do to help either and she didn’t feel like disturbing him. He’d been exhausted when they’d checked in, his nerves frazzled from arguing with Ironwood about Ozpin and the relics.

She sighed and started to knead at her shoulder muscles with her left hand. She winced and quickly stopped trying to massage out the pain, as it seemed to be only making it worse. Yang grunted defeatedly and let her back sink into the wall of pillows behind her, resigned to a night of discomfort.

Yang grabbed her scroll and began surfing the web in a vain attempt to distract herself from her aggressively sore shoulder. She ended up scrolling through a few Atlas news sites, checking to see if the showdown with the Leviathan in Argus had made headlines. Surprisingly, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find one article about it. All the news she could find focused on trivialities, like the announcement of a Schnee charity ball and the introduction of some new, risqué play coming to Atlas’s premiere theatre. It seemed that Atlas was sticking its head in the sand, refusing to believe anything terrible and horrifying and taken place outside of its posh little borders.

”Unbelievable,” Yang muttered incredulously.

”What’s unbelievable?”

Yang looked up from her scroll to look at her partner and for a moment she had to remind herself to breathe. Blake stood before her in one of her signature black crop tops and a pair of tight, dark grey shorts. Her hair was slightly damp from having just gotten out of the shower and her cat ears twitched slightly as they tried to flick away any excess water that still clung to their tips.

_Gods, she’s so beautiful._

Yang felt her tongue trip over itself as she tried to regain her composure and answer the question. “Just, y’know, Atlas bullshit. I was checking the news and not one of these sites mentions the Grimm attack on Argus. It’s like it never even happened.”

Blake made her way over to Yang and settled on the edge of the bed next to her, her lips pursed as her eyes scanned over the tabs Yang had pulled up on her scroll.

Yang was right. Try as she might, Blake couldn’t find a single piece of news that mentioned the disaster in Argus.

Blake scoffed. “Leave it to Atlas to consistently refuse to face harsh truths.”

Yang could hear the irritation in Blake’s voice and she knew it was about more than just the news. “Atlas is really getting to you, isn’t it?”

Blake nodded quietly. She scooted closer to Yang and let her head rest on the other girl’s shoulder. “Yes. I wish it wasn’t. I mean, I _knew_  what to expect but facing it is...”

”Rough?”

”That’s definitely one word for it,” Blake said exhaustedly.

Yang’s heart ached for Blake. They’d only been in Atlas for two days and already her partner was having to deal with the city’s prejudiced populace. A few people had eyed Blake warily, talking about her in harsh whispers, while one bastard of a man had had the audacity to spew his bigoted bullshit right in Blake’s face. Yang had been livid, eyes red with fury as she’d berated him. The only reason she hadn’t caused a scene was because Blake had gently taken her hand and told her the man wasn’t worth it.

”Hey,” Yang said affectionately. “I’m here for you. I promise, you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

Blake smiled up at her and Yang felt her heart do somersaults in response. “I know.” She pulled herself closer to Yang and, after a moment’s hesitation, wrapped one arm around Yang’s back and draped the other across her waist.

”Is this ok?” Blake asked softly.

Yang nodded, a small smile forming on her lips. “It’s more than ok.”

Blake held Yang close, nuzzling her face into the blonde’s neck. Yang sighed blissfully, laying her head on top of Blake’s. Things had changed between Yang and Blake, there was no denying it, but it was a welcome change for the both of them. They touched and held each other like they’d done it a thousand times before. There was something there, something deeper than the friendship they’d shared at Beacon. They both knew it, too. Someday soon, they’d talk about it, talk about how they both felt like life was dimmer without the other in it. For now though, they were content to stay like this.

Yang could feel herself drifting into drowsiness and, if Blake’s slow, slightly muffled breathing against her neck was anything to go by, she was on her way there too. These last few days had felt like the longest of her life, and she knew that it had been even harder for her partner. Yet all of that seemed to fade away in  this perfect moment. Nothing could ruin it.

There was a burst of pain in her right shoulder, so sudden and unexpected that Yang felt like she’d been shot. She had to clap a hand over her mouth to muffle her startled cry of agony.

Well, nothing could ruin it save for her shoulder, apparently.

Blake was roused from her state of semi-sleep, her face full of concern. She placed one hand on Yang’s face and the other on what was left of her right arm, Blake’s thumb rubbing circles into it reassuringly. “What happened? Are you okay?”

Yang huffed, more upset that she’d woken Blake up than she was about her shoulder. “It’s nothing, really. My shoulder’s just acting up. It doesn’t even hurt that much, I swe—”

As if to punish her for lying, her shoulder started throbbing with an intense, burning pain that made her feel like she was going to black out. Without even thinking, she pulled Blake close, burying her face into her partner’s neck as she let out an anguished shout, tears pricking her eyes.

”Oh, Yang,” Blake whispered tenderly as she hugged the blonde close, one hand on her back and the other running itself loosely through Yang’s hair. “What can I do to help?”

Yang shook her head weakly. “I don’t know.”

Blake untangled her hand from Yang’s wild mane of hair and let it drift to Yang’s shoulder, her touch featherlight as she started to massage the taut muscles beneath Yang’s skin. She could feel Yang tense up against her for a moment before melting into the touch, a content hum escaping her lips.

”Feels good?”

Yang couldn’t even bring herself to speak, her relief at Blake’s touch so great. “Mmhm.”

Blake chuckled, her eyes shining with satisfaction. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

After another minute or so, Yang finally decided to pull away. Blake was dismayed at first, afraid she’d somehow hurt Yang while massaging her, but the feeling quickly faded when she saw the happy smile on Yang’s face.

”Thank you,” Yang said as she cupped Blake’s face, her thumb running fondly across the other girl’s cheek. “So much.”

”You don’t need to thank me,” Blake responded. “I’m just glad you’re ok. I was so worried.”

”I’m fine.” Yang let her hand fall from Blake’s face to her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. The blonde frowned slightly as she felt the tenseness in Blake’s shoulder. 

Blake noticed the change in demeanor immediately. “Something wrong?”

”Looks like I’m not the only one that’s tense,” Yang said, giving Blake’s shoulder another squeeze. “Why don’t you let me return the favor?”

Blake grabbed Yang’s hand, intertwining their fingers together. “Yang, you don’t have to do that.”

”If you’re still worried about me, I promise it doesn’t hurt anymore. I can return the favor just fi—”

Yang was cut off by Blake, one finger pressed gently against Yang’s lips. “That’s not what I meant.”

Yang raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Huh?”

”I mean you don’t always have to take care of me. You take of others all the time. Ruby, Weiss, _me_. Please, Yang, let someone take care of you for a change.”

Yang was speechless. She didn’t know what to say or how to feel. She was so used to being the protector, the caregiver, that the idea of letting someone take care of her was absolutely foreign.

”I...I don’t know how,” she eventually said.

Blake’s face fell at that and Yang wanted more than anything to return a smile to her partner’s face. “I know I don’t have to return the favor. But I _want_ to, if you’ll let me?”

Blake deliberated for a moment before acquiescing to Yang’s request. Yang reached behind Blake, grabbing her prosthetic. Blake gave her a worried look, a silent question in her eyes.

”It won’t hurt to put it on now. I promise I’ll take it back off before I go to bed,” Yang reassured. Blake nodded and watched as Yang twisted the prosthetic into place. The blonde clenched and unclenched her robotic hand, giving it a few test movements to make sure it was working properly. It was still damaged from their fight against Adam. Ironwood had a replacement one in the works for Yang, but he hadn’t told them when it would be finished

”You mind turning around?”

Blake looked somewhat confused by the question but did as she was asked. A second later, Yang’s hands were on her shoulders, slowly and tenderly working the knots out of Blake’s muscles. Blake leaned back into the touch, a deep thrum emanating from her throat as she relaxed under Yang’s hands.

”I’m not hurting you, am I?” Yang asked concernedly. “It’s hard to gauge how much pressure my right hand’s exerting.”

”You aren’t. I’d tell you if you were.”

”Promise?”

”Promise.”

Yang’s hands traveled from Blake’s shoulders to her back, massaging in a steady rhythm. After a while, Blake leaned back into Yang’s chest, making it impossible for Yang to continue her ministrations. She opted to wrap her arms around Blake instead, touching her forehead against the top of Blake’s.

”Thank you,” Blake said, tilting her head so she could look Yang in the eye. The blonde’s eyes were soft and full of so much love that Blake couldn’t stop the tinge of red that painted its way across her face.

”You don’t need to thank me,” Yang said, repeating her partner’s own words back to her.

Blake turned so that she could hold Yang against her and Yang readjusted herself, so she could keep cradling Blake in her arms. They both looked at each other, content grins decorating both their lips. They brought their faces close, pressing their foreheads together again.

”Thank you for being my—” Yang paused, an amused twinkle appearing in her eyes, “—my right hand woman.”

It took a second for Blake to process what had been said, but when she did, she let out a mirthful giggle and then gave Yang a playful smack on her good shoulder. “You’re so corny.”

”You love it though.”

Blake sat up slightly and pressed a kiss against Yang’s right cheek. This time, it was Yang’s turn to turn uncontrollably red.

”Yeah. Yeah, I do.”


End file.
